What is this Mayan calendar thing about? Just what is supposed to happen today?
According to some, the Mayan calendar predicts the end of the earth as we know it on this very day. They believe that a significant planetary alignment takes place today, and along with the increased activity of the sun, there will be a catastrophic geological event on our planet – possibly wiping out most of the life on earth. Some predict that the earth’s plates will begin to move rapidly. Others predict major solar storms or that the earth’s magnetic fields will change. Some even predict that today there will be a New Age salvation event which enable us to get along better with each other.
John Henderson, a professor of anthropology at Cornell University says the Mayan calendar maps cycles in time and not time itself. In other words, it is similar to our yearly calendar, but much longer. Tomorrow is a kind of New Year’s Day for the ancient Mayans. This 5,000-year calendar cycle ends today – not the world. On December 22, a new 5,000-year calendar begins.
Earlier this year, the modern Mayan calendar myth was proved false at an archaeological dig in Guatemala. The team found a mural painted inside a residence that includes a calendar with predictions of dates thousands of years after this current cycle.
Of course, we Christians should not laugh too much. We too have suffered from our own charlatans and misinformed persons who have made the assumption they could predict the Second Coming of Christ.
In the first Millennium, many Christians believed the Second Coming of Jesus would take place in 1,000 AD. Many people disposed of their belongings, left their jobs, and abandoned their homes. When the date came and went with no apocalypse, the Christian authorities decided they had miscalculated Jesus’ age. Therefore, they decided the world would actually end in 1033 A.D. Apparently, they miscalculated again. Unfortunately, however, people are still playing this “prediction game”.
Edgar C. Whisenant said of his book, 88 REASONS WHY THE RAPTURE IS IN 1988, “ Only if the Bible is in error am I wrong and I say that unequivocally.” When the rapture did not happen, he wrote a new book called THE FINAL SHOUT: RAPTURE REPORT 1989. He reported that his math calculations were off a year. Of course, we are still here!
Charles R. Taylor wrote in BIBLE PROPHECY NEWS in the summer of 1992 that Jesus’ return would occur in the fall of the same year.
Grant R. Jeffery wrote in his ARMAGEDDON: APPOINTMENT WITH DESTINY that he believed the year 2000 was the termination date for the last days. Still here!
Jerry Falwell, on a December 27, 1992 television broadcast, stated, “I do not believe there will be another millennium . . . or another century.” Still here!
Harold Camping wrote in 1994, Jesus would return in the fall of that year. As president of the FAMILY RADIO NETWORK, Camping also created a lot of excitement last spring when he predicted that the 
world would end in a series of rolling earthquakes known as “The Rapture.” After May 21 came and went without any signs of the Rapture, Camping moved his predicted date to October 21. Still, no Rapture!
I think it would be a good thing for those who predict dates for the Second Coming to remember how many before them have failed in their attempts. They never think that someone could say “Christians like you have been telling us for decades that Jesus is coming soon. Why should we believe you anymore?” By crying wolf and being wrong each time, the church is seen as a sham. Skeptics of Christianity are likely to conclude the Christian message is a fraud.
Jesus said:
“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (Matthew 24:36-44 ESV)
G. Campbell Morgan writes:
“There is an arresting insistence upon the fact that the time is not known. In those words He solemnly warned His disciples, and us, and the whole age, that we know not when, not in this prophecy, nor anywhere else in the teaching of Jesus, not in the whole New Testament is there a single declaration that can help us to fix, even approximately within the limits of human almanac or calendar, the hour of the advent. Nothing could be plainer than this!”
Jesus will come again at the time of God’s choice, and we will never know the time until it happens. Christianity deserves better from its leaders and followers than to be compared to this modern hoax about the Mayan calendar. So stop buying those stupid end-of-the-world books; read your Bible, obey the Word, and strive to become more like Christ.
Here are two books (reduced price) to help you understand what the Bible actually teaches about the Second Coming of our Lord:
Last Days Madness (e-Book PDF Download) Price: $5.95
Rapture Fever (e-Book PDF Download) Price: $2.95
*The information above on Rapture predictions comes from Gary DeMar’s book, Last Days Madness.
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Filed under: Bible, Christianity, Church Leadership, History, Jesus Christ, Samuel A. Cain, Samuel at Gilgal, The Second Coming of Jesus Christ | Tagged: Maya calendar | 1 Comment »
Michael Card
Samuel at Gilgal 